A working group of Mariposa Food Co-op in West Philadelphia

Menu

(AP) VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI denounced speculation in commodities markets Friday and demanded a global response to high food prices based on solidarity, not profit.

Benedict told delegates of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization that access to food is a basic human right that must be guaranteed. He said it’s urgent to develop economic models that aren’t just based on profit but take into account the “human dimension.” “How can we remain silent when even food has become the object of speculation or is linked to a market that, without any regulation and deprived of moral principles, appears linked solely to an objective of profit?” he asked. High food prices, he said, require an international response by countries and institutions like the FAO to uphold the dignity of all people.

Benedict’s call echoed the argument laid out in his last encyclical “Charity in Truth,” which denounced the profit-at-all cost mentality blamed for the global economic downturn. Members of the FAO who attended the audience earlier recently elected a new director-general, Jose Graziano da Silva of Brazil, who takes over at a time when FAO’s mission to eradicate world hunger has been challenged by near-record high food prices.

Social Justice and Co-ops Book Club

Want to know more about co-ops? Interested in how co-ops can be part of movements for justice and social change? Mariposa is joining food co-ops across the country in a collaborative study project about the intersection of cooperatives and social justice organizing and education.

This month we are reading the first half of For All The People: Uncovering the Hidden History of Cooperation, Cooperative Movements, and Communalism in America, by John Curl.

All are welcome! Please email education@mariposa.coop to get a free copy of the reading selection, for more information and to join the group.